Sunday, November 29, 2009

Saturday 11/28 - 21.75 miles - 2:40

Since i hadn't run a 20+ long run in 3 weeks, I forced myself to get a 20+ run in this weekend. My legs were still feeling it from the race on Thursday so I was planning on just taking it easy and hoping to run about 7:30 pace. I pulled off my usual get the parking lot as the group is taking off, but since they were headed my direction I knew that I could catch them at Feagan and Jackson Hill and join the group for the run. I got out to the corner and looked over and saw this giant pack of runners bearing down on me and I wondered if I had missed my usual group. I joined in and saw Bill and John who are usually in my group along with the next group. I was happy to not push the long run and not run it by myself. I enjoyed having a nice relaxing run and chatting with some people that I don't normally talk to as much. My splits varied some in the middle of the run as I ran with a few different people at different paces for a couple miles here or there. The last 8 miles or so of the run I ran on my own as I added on miles at the park and then ran back to the base with a couple miles to finish on the cloverleaf hills.

We ran a new route on a road north of Woodway and ran through a residential neighborhood I hadn't been in before. It was nice doing something a little different. My splits were 8:17, 7:44, 7:36, 7:25, 7:45, 7:35, 7:24, 7:25, 7:24, 7:11, 7:14, 7:39, 7:40, 7:35, 7:21, 7:10, 7:09, 7:09, 7:06, 6:57, 6:30, 6:25 pace for 3/4 mile.

After the run my legs felt pretty good for a 22 mile run. I put some Ben Gay on my hamstrings and calves at mile 17. They were still a little sore and I probably would have been fine without it, but it helps my legs feel better so I decided to put some on at a water stop. The weather was great with the temperature in the 50's.